Jerald
Masculine · “spear-rule”
Jerald is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 26,191 boys against 102 girls since 1880.
Jerald is Gerald spelled the way it sounds. The Germanic compound behind it pairs a spear with a rule, and the soft g of the standard spelling is a French inheritance the English spelling never resolved.
How old is the name Jerald?
Jerald first appears in US birth records in 1909 — 116 years ago. The typical Jerald alive today was born around 1954, making them about 71 years old. About 16,500 people named Jerald are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Jerald most popular?
Jerald peaked in 1942, reaching #223 nationally. Today it ranks #4050, 3,827 places below that high. See the whole 1942 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Gerwald to Jerald
The story of Jerald
Gerald was a Frankish name that the Normans brought to England, where it was common in the Middle Ages and then thinned out before returning in the nineteenth century — partly through Ireland, where the Fitzgeralds made it a great family name. The soft g the French gave it is not obvious from the spelling, and American families in the twentieth century solved that by writing Jerald and Jerold. This spelling peaked in the mid-1940s.
Meaning
spear-rule
Through Gerald, from the Germanic ger, 'spear', and wald, 'rule' or 'power'. The ger element also opens Gerard, Gertrude and Garrett; wald ends Ronald, Harold and Oswald. Both are thoroughly documented.
How the name formed
- Gerwald
- Gerald
- Jerald
Related forms: Gerold · Giraldo · Géraud · Gerald
Pronouncing Jerald
JER-uld
Two syllables, stress on the first. Jerald and Gerald are homophones; this spelling exists so the soft g is not in doubt.
Nicknames for Jerald
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1909
- Most boys named
- 1942647 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #223reached in 1942
- Change vs 2023
- +8.3%26 in 2025, from 24
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Jerald in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Gerold in German — related form
- Giraldo in Italian — related form
- Géraud in French — related form
- Gerald in English — spelling variant
Jeralds among us
people named Jerald are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 65,695 born in 2025 was named Jerald
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Aubrey test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Jerald's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Aubrey climbed just as high around 1912, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Aubrey's path sketches the road Jerald is walking now.
Jerald sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Jerald is headed
Jerald should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Jerald beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Jerald in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The spelling is phonetic, which the standard one is not.
- Both elements of the compound are documented and the meaning is coherent.
- Jerry is available as a short form with an enormous record.
- Gerald is far commoner and will be assumed by anyone writing the name down.
- It is closely dated to the middle of the twentieth century.
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What they receive
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Jerald
Masculine · #4050 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Jeralds are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 16,500 people named Jerald are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Jerald in 2025?
- Jerald ranks #4050 among US boy names in 2025, with 26 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Jerald?
- About 1 in every 65,695 US boys born in 2025 was named Jerald — 26 in all.
- Will my child share the name Jerald with classmates?
- Jerald will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Jerald
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Myer#4050 · Hewitt#4050 · Antonino#4050 · Egan#4050 · Johnmichael#4050 · Gauge#4050 · Emran#4050 · Freeman#4050
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Jerald? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Jerald and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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